Dr. Thornburg’s idea of the rhymes of history basically
states that many modern technological innovations echo previous ideas,
experiences, and/or cultural interactions from humanity’s past. Digital storytelling
through voicethread.com, storybird.com, or iPad apps such as StoryLines all
attempt to captivate the visual, auditory, and textual elements of
storytelling. The format for exchanging stories has changed throughout the
years; however the purpose of the stories remains as a collective approach to
share the human experience. Digital storytelling attempts to engage as many
senses as possible as a way to recreate in a sense the storytelling around a
fire among family, friends, and/or communities.
Kevin Kelly’s extrapolation of where the web is going in
his TED Talk “The next 5,000 days of the web” here
describes what it is evolving into a single, global machine and the web is its
OS (operating system). All of us together make up this machine and the web,
which has artificial intelligence but it is in and of itself not a singular
consciousness or entity, rather it is made up of all of the people and things
that are connected to it. He also contends that we will become codependent on
this Web as we are currently dependent on the alphabet and writing. Instead of
an alternate reality, this emerging web combines physical reality with digital
reality. Kelly reverses McLuhan’s statement “Machines are the extensions of the
human senses” to “humans are now going to be the extended senses of the
machine”. These ideas reinforce the connections, consciousness, and collective
consciousness of humanity and its perception of how it sees itself as a
collective, interactive, and dominant force in the natural world.
References:
Kelly, K. (2007, December). Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000
days of the Web [Speech].
Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
Micah,
ReplyDeleteWhen I watched the TED TALK video of Kevin Kelly’s “Next 5,000 Days of the Web”, I was amazed as to predictions made in the past about the web as it is now, and how this kind of predictions can also affect the web 5,000 days in the future. I celebrated my birthday yesterday (April 12) and was amazed as to the number of greetings I received via my social network site. If someone was to have told me that I would receive birthday wishes amounting to 600 people ten years ago, I would not have believed them. Therefore, I am gullible to any predictions about the future of the web, be it the Machine that Kelly spoke about or any other device that would enhance web browsing or web activities.
Storytelling is a very good example of technology that represents a rhyme of history. This dates back to ancient times and was prominent in folklore activities. My grandparents once told me of night gatherings when they would share stories with their friends. Can you imagine if they were alive to see technology in storytelling? Do you think that digital storytelling will advanced more within the next 12 months or so, based on Moore’s Law?
Micah,
ReplyDeleteWhat caught my eye in your post was the statement that we will become dependent on the web. Who could have seen this coming a few years before his statement? I remember the first days of the web. I was in high school, but we didn't have web access at the time. My students today cannot conceive attending high school without it. While I am getting older, I am certainly not at the end of my career. It is interesting to see the advancement. Now I have the internet in my pocket and can even deposit checks on the spot with one of my apps...
Great post!
Kevin
Micah,
ReplyDeleteDigital Storytelling is a prime example of a rhyme of history. Storytelling has been a practice for centuries. This even can be dated to times of illustrations in the form of carvings. Storytelling is a very significant element of history, as it represents the social interaction among individuals. With the ongoing advancements in technology; where do you invision storytelling?